2024 Reading Challenge

2024 Reading Challenge
Jill Elizabeth has read 1 book toward her goal of 285 books.
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2023 Reading Challenge

2023 Reading Challenge
Jill Elizabeth has read 5 books toward her goal of 265 books.
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Book Review: The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson

I feel really bad saying this, because I had really high hopes for it, but this one totally fell flat for me…

It started off very strong – I was immediately drawn in to the multiple worlds and Cara’s place in them. The first reveal wasn’t much of a shocker but still packed a punch, and I expected to fly through this one based on how quickly things started off. But somewhere about a quarter of the way in things just started slowing down and from there felt like they got slower and slower until they ground to a halt for me. I’ve seen other reviewers talk about the elegance of the writing – which I agree with completely – and also about the weird simultaneous flatness of the emotional affect – which, unfortunately, I also agree with completely.

After the strong opening I just never felt a big connection with the characters or the worlds. They are very similar, and I get that this is part of the story, but it meant that a lot of the writing started to feel repetitive to me – and not in a way that builds tension or stress into the story, but rather in a way that felt like it was forcing me to keep flipping pages just in the hope that something exciting and new would happen… Even the romance felt stilted and painfully dry. Plus it was hard to believe that the world – weary protagonist would behave, talk, and think as simplistically as she so often did, and it made it tough for me to relate to her. This may be where the YA- intended audience and I part ways, but still – it made the read feel like work after a while, and that’s when it really lost me…

I think this was just an example of the wrong book – reader match.

(But how gorgeous and evocative is that cover?? It’s what initially drew me to the book…)

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my obligation-free review copy.

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